Winter/Snow tires

The rings allow the hub to be used as a centering point, so that when you place the wheel on the wheel hub, the wheel rests tightly on the hub, instead of hanging on the wheel studs. If you were to install the lugnuts without hubcentric rings using an impact gun and not following a star pattern, the wheel may not be perfectly centered, which can result in vibration. I've had good luck so far without rings, but I always hand tighten the lugs in a star pattern when the car is in the air, then hand tighten again once the car is on the ground (don't have a torque wrench yet). Hubcentric rings are not load-bearing once the wheel is secured to the hub with the lug nuts.

Basically it's better to have them. They're cheap anyway. Use metal rings whenever possible, I've heard of plastic rings melting.
Thank you, that's what I needed to know--that the rings are not load bearing.
 
When I got my winter wheel/tire setup from Tirerack, they included the rings, it wasn't even an option to decline them. IMO, I'd rather have them.
 
I ended up getting Rial Lucca 17" wheels with Michelin X-Ice SUV tires. The wheels had the correct center bore, no centering rings were needed. Perfect timing, as I mounted them on the car it started snowing and now we have 8-10" of fluffy snow. I was able to easily navigate the unplowed roads around my house today.

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I did my annual change... pretty quick to do in the garage and some floor jacks.. Still sporting the Blizzak DM-V2
 
The rings allow the hub to be used as a centering point, so that when you place the wheel on the wheel hub, the wheel rests tightly on the hub, instead of hanging on the wheel studs. If you were to install the lugnuts without hubcentric rings using an impact gun and not following a star pattern, the wheel may not be perfectly centered, which can result in vibration. I've had good luck so far without rings, but I always hand tighten the lugs in a star pattern when the car is in the air, then hand tighten again once the car is on the ground (don't have a torque wrench yet). Hubcentric rings are not load-bearing once the wheel is secured to the hub with the lug nuts.

Basically it's better to have them. They're cheap anyway. Use metal rings whenever possible, I've heard of plastic rings melting.
I have plastic rings on mine and am happy with them.

The hub shouldn't get that hot, if it does, seems like something is seriously wrong. Melted rings shouldn't cause any additional problem, and would be a cheap indicator that you have a bigger problem to fix.
 
I have plastic rings on mine and am happy with them.

The hub shouldn't get that hot, if it does, seems like something is seriously wrong. Melted rings shouldn't cause any additional problem, and would be a cheap indicator that you have a bigger problem to fix.

I wonder if the melted rings were only reported in hot climates, by drivers who really push their cars, like those who compete in autocross, or do a lot of mountain driving that has them using the brakes a lot.
 
I did my annual change... pretty quick to do in the garage and some floor jacks.. Still sporting the Blizzak DM-V2
Getting mine on now. Garage does it for free when I get an oil change. Talk about quick! :D
 
I did get stuck on the last bit of an unpaved driveway this past week that had maybe 8-10 inches of snow on it. Might have been 12+ in some areas due to high wind creating some deep drifts. I turned the TCS off after identifying the front passenger wheel as the one spinning, and after digging out a bit and going back and forth a bit, was able to get enough momentum to plow through the rest. Blizzak WS-90s. Worked fine otherwise. Think it was just that spot and I think it would have been fine had I not stopped while I was backing out. It was a driveway of a place we were renting for a few days, so was not used to it, hence the stop as I was navigating backing out of it. This was also at a high elevation receiving heavy snowfall. I think they have like 2 feet there now, but we went home before the second storm really came through.

At home we have gotten basically zilch for snow this year.
 
I need some input/advise here; I was forced to put a different brand of tires (Michelin Crossclimate 2) on the rear axle due to side wall damage to one of the rear tires during an interstate travel (had a set of Nokian WR G4 all around), the vehicle is an AWD 2018 Grand touring.

Any long term harm to the transmission/differential from this setup? the car drives fine and feels well balanced (2 almost new Nokian in front, 2 brand new Michelin in the rear)
 
I need some input/advise here; I was forced to put a different brand of tires (Michelin Crossclimate 2) on the rear axle due to side wall damage to one of the rear tires during an interstate travel (had a set of Nokian WR G4 all around), the vehicle is an AWD 2018 Grand touring.

Any long term harm to the transmission/differential from this setup? the car drives fine and feels well balanced (2 almost new Nokian in front, 2 brand new Michelin in the rear)
Any reason why you didn’t get 1 new Nokian WR G4 to replace the damaged one? This has to be much cheaper than getting 2 new Michelin Crossclimate 2’s. And you can shave the new Nokian WR G4 a bit if you really want to match the tread depth with the other 3, although I don’t think that is needed as the othe 3 are “almost new”.
 
A very good reason; tire damage took place near a smallish town while traveling, it was hard enough to find a 19" tire let alone a Nokian WR G4 branded one.
 
A very good reason; tire damage took place near a smallish town while traveling, it was hard enough to find a 19" tire let alone a Nokian WR G4 branded one.
If I were you, I’d try to find out if it’s possible to “return” the Michelin Crossclimate 2’s at Discount Tire using Michelin’s 60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee and get a new Nokian WR G4 from them. If this doesn’t work, I’d purchase a Nokian WR G4 and save two Michelin Crossclimate 2’s for later use (only buy 2 Michelin Crossclimate 2’s to match up next time). In other words, I’d try to use the same tire at 4 corners especially on an AWD.
 
If I were you, I’d try to find out if it’s possible to “return” the Michelin Crossclimate 2’s at Discount Tire using Michelin’s 60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee and get a new Nokian WR G4 from them. If this doesn’t work, I’d purchase a Nokian WR G4 and save two Michelin Crossclimate 2’s for later use (only buy 2 Michelin Crossclimate 2’s to match up next time). In other words, I’d try to use the same tire at 4 corners especially on an AWD.
At least the tires are both All Weather type! Tires of the same size but from different manufacturers may have a different diameter. Here's an idea; make sure the tires all have the same pressure and measure the circumference of each brand on a hoist if you don't want to jack up the vehicle. You could also drive about 4 feet on a material type measuring tape (the one used for sewing) laying upside down and take the measurement more or less on top of the tire.
 
At least the tires are both All Weather type! Tires of the same size but from different manufacturers may have a different diameter. Here's an idea; make sure the tires all have the same pressure and measure the circumference of each brand on a hoist if you don't want to jack up the vehicle. You could also drive about 4 feet on a material type measuring tape (the one used for sewing) laying upside down and take the measurement more or less on top of the tire.
I did some digging too, and the difference is only 0.1 inch (28.7 vs 28.8) which is around 2/32 (the "allowable" difference for AWD).
 
I'm not entirely sure the affect on this Mazda clutch based system. My past experience with full time mechanical on former Ford product ('96 Explorer 5.0L AWD (full mechanical viscous coupling) showed with others that you would kill that system in short order with mismatched tread depth.

I think the same applies to the TORSEN CDL in my GX as the old Ford. I'm not entirely sure about the issue with the ATTESA in my G35x... it does have a transfer case since it is RWD biased.
 
One other possible point of concern with running different tires on the front and rear is how evenly they would wear. If one pair wears faster than the other due to different UTQG ratings, rubber compound, etc., you'd have to rotate the tires more often to maintain even treadwear between front and rear.

If returning the tires isn't an option, I'd buy a new pair of Nokian WR G4 tires and try to sell the pair of Crossclimates. Then I would either have the new Nokians shaved to match the treadwear level of your existing pair, or if the difference is minimal, I'd put the new pair up front.
 
If returning the tires isn't an option, I'd buy a new pair of Nokian WR G4 tires and try to sell the pair of Crossclimates. Then I would either have the new Nokians shaved to match the treadwear level of your existing pair, or if the difference is minimal, I'd put the new pair up front.
He actually needs only one new Nokian WR G4 as he said only one of the Nokian’s is damaged, and they’re almost new.
 
He actually needs only one new Nokian WR G4 as he said only one of the Nokian’s is damaged, and they’re almost new.

True, for some reason I assumed that because both rear tires were replaced, both rear tires were left behind. Of course it makes sense to keep the good tire, so really only one new Nokian would be needed.
 
I'm kind of late to the thread, but Nokian makes some of the best winter tires in the world. These are a great choice for the CX-5, is a high-performance tire and come in 225/55/19 which is OEM on many CX-5 models (obviously many other sizes as well)

 
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